II REV. PAUL KNELL (1615-64), Israel and England ParallELED Israel And England | Paralelled, | In a Sermon preached before I the honourable society of Grayes- Inne, upon Sunday in the | afternoon, Aprill 16. 1648.| By Paul Knell, Master in Arts of Clare-Hall | in Cambridge. | Sometimes Chaplaine to a Regiment of Curiasiers | in his Majesties Army. London, Printed in the Yeare 1648.1 (4to. 2 ll. +20 pp.) [B. M.] pp. 16-17. " .. first, we may compare with Israel for a fruitfull scituation, being neither under the torrid nor the frozen Zone, neither burned away with parching heat, nor benummed away with pinching cold, but seated in a temperate climate & fertile soile; our folds are full of sheep, our vallies stand so thick with corne that we may laugh & sing. God hath also fenced us about, like the Israelites in the red sea, with a wall of water, the waters are as a wall unto us, on our right hand, & on our left, . . . And now, England, what doth thy Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his waies, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soule? But here God may as justly complaine of us as he did of Israel, Bathra 76a. For the views of the Gaon Saadia ben Joseph (892–942) see Guttman, Religionsphilosophie des Saadia, Göttingen, 1882, p. 236; for Hai ben Sherira Gaon (939-1038) see Taam Zekenim, Frankfort on the Main, 1854, pp. 58-61; for Abraham ben Chiya Albargeloni Ha'nasi (called Abraham Judæus and Savasorda) (1065-1136) see Hegion Ha'nefesh, Leipzig, 1860, p. 40 ff.; for Judah Halevi, see his Poems and Kuzari in Cassel's edition, Leipzig, 1869, ii. 36-44, pp. 143-7, p. iv. 23; pt. i. 115; for Maimonides, see Hilchoth Melachim in his Yad Ha'chazakah, Chs. XI. XII. and Hilchoth Teshubah, Ch. IX. 2; for Nachmanides, see his Comment. to Gen. 2: 3, and to Exodus 17: 9; for Abarbanel, his books Yeshuat Meshicho, Mashmia Yeshuah, Maeyenai Ha'yeshua, and Klausner: Die Messianischen Vorstellungen Berlin, 1904, and also Greenstone: The Messiah Idea in Jewish History, Philadelphia, 1906. 1 It was re-issued thirty-three years later :— . London, Printed in the year 1648. And now Reprinted for a Caution to all those that are given to Change. Sold by Randal Tayler and Robert Stephens, by Stationers-Hall, near Ludgate. 1681. 4to. 2 ll.+16 pp. [I. S.] III MATTHEW ARNOLD ON RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT MATTHEW ARNOLD, in his Literature and Dogma, insists that righteousness is in a special manner the object of Bible religion. The word "righteousness" is a master word in the Old Testament. What would England have been were it not for the importance which Jeshurun, the upright, attached to the thought and practice of righteousness? She might have been eminent in law, in arts and sciences borrowed from the Romans and the Greeks, but she would have been addicted to idolatry and the gratification of the senses, and would have borne the doom of destruction within herself. He draws a vivid imaginary picture of the authorities of one of the English great Universities, the vice-Chancellor, beadles, masters, scholars, and all, nay, their very professor of moral philosophy, going in procession to worship at the shrine of Aphrodite. "If it had not been for Israel," he continues, " and the stern check which Israel put upon the glorification and divinization of this natural bend of mankind. . . . And as long as the world lasts, all who want to make progress in righteousness will come to Israel for inspiration, as to the people who have had the sense for righteousness most glowing and strongest; and in hearing and reading the words Israel has uttered for us, carers for conduct will find a glow and a force they would find nowhere else. As well imagine a man with a sense for sculpture not cultivating it by the help of the remains of Greek art, or a man with a sense for poetry not cultivating it by the help of Homer and Shakespeare, as a man with a sense for conduct not cultivating it by the help of the Bible."1 IV ESPERANÇA DE ISRAEL," BY MANASSEH BEN-ISRAEL mp | Esto es, | Esperança | De Israel.| Obra con suma curiosidad conpuesta | por | Menasseh Ben Israel | Theologo, y Philosopho Hebreo. Trata del admirable esparzimiento de los diez | Tribus, y su infalible reduccion con los de | mas, a la patria: con muchos puntos, y Historias curiosas, y declara-cion de varias Prophecias, por el Author rectamen- te interpretadas. 1 Literature and Dogma... By Matthew Arnold... London... 1873 .... pp. 26, 36-37 and 56. Dirigido a los señores Parnassim del K.K. | de Talmvd Tora.| (sm. 8°. 7 l. + 126 pp.) [I. S.] 1 The surname "Ben Israel Soeiro" used by the printer, a son of the author, is a combination of those of his paternal grandparents Joseph BenIsrael and Rachel Soeiro, who had been marranos. Joseph, a victim of the Inquisition, on returning to the Jewish fold, it may be surmised, discarded his gothic patronymic and appropriately assumed that of Ben-Israel. Their son, the author, married Rachel, a great-granddaughter of the famous Bible exegete and statesman Don Isaac Abrabanel, who claimed Davidic descent. In an age when .Dn was highly prized, we consequently find that in the following year, when Samuel printed his father's Nishmath Chayyim, his surname has become "Abrabanel Soeiro," and in the Latin addition, "Ben Israel Abrabanel Sueiro." He was born in Amsterdam in 1625. He accompanied his maternal uncle, David Abrabanel [Manuel Martinez Dormido], to England, on behalf of his father, arriving here on 1st Sep., 1654, to open up negotiations with Cromwell concerning the admission of their co-religionists to this country. It was decided that the presence of Manasseh was incumbent, and a pass to Holland, dated 16 May, 1655, was granted to Samuel, to fetch his father. They arrived in the following October, and resided here close on two years. On Sunday, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, 5418 [8 Sep., 1657, N.S.: 29 Aug. o.s.], at the early age of thirty-two, Samuel went to his Eternal rest. He had conjured his father that he would take his body to Amsterdam, where he was born, for burial. Manasseh was then in a precarious state of health, and on arriving at Middleburg in Zealand, where Ephraim Abrabanel, the maternal uncle of the deceased, resided, he was unable to continue the journey. The interment took place at the local Beth Haim, and the Rev. Isidore Harris, M.A., a few years ago discovered the tombstone* in the third carera, which has the following inscription SA Do Doctor Semvel | F° Do Haham Menasseh | Ben Israel | Faleceo em 2 Tisri | 5418. Manasseh's illness was mortal. His son Joseph had died at the age of twenty about eight or nine years before, and the premature death of his last surviving son hastened his end. A few weeks later, on the 11 Kislev (20 Nov.), he passed away in the house of his brother-in-law, but fiftythree years old. He was interred at the Sephardi Beth Haim at Oudekerk, Amsterdam. 2 Another issue, with a similar collation, but apparently from other type, was printed in the same year. [1. s.] It appeared again during the last quarter of the nineteenth century under the following title :Origen De Los Americanos. Esto Es Esperanza De Israel... Reimpresion... Del Libro De Menasseh Ben Israel... Publicado En Amsterdam 5410 (1650). y la biografia del autor, Por Santiago Perez Junquera. Madrid.-1881. ... 8°. xxxvi pp. +8 l.+126 pp. +3 ll. in printed wrapper as issued. [1. S.] * Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. vii., 19111914... Edinburgh and London, 1915. . p. 127: A Dutch BurialGround and its English Connections." By the Rev. Isidore Harris, M.A. V "SPES ISRAELIS," BY MANASSEH BEN-ISRAEL Samp Hoc est, | Spes | Israelis. Authore Menasseh Ben Israel | Theologo & Philosopho Hebræo. Amstelodami. | Anno 1650.| (sm. 8°. 6 l. + III pp.) [I. S.] sig. [A2] Svpremo Angliæ Consessvs Parlamento, ejusdemque Reipublice Status Consilio Honorando, Salutem, ac felicitatem omnem, a Deo apprecatur Menasseh Ben Israel.1 VI “HOPE OF ISRAEL-TEN TRIBES... IN AMERICA-an, po DE HOOP VAN ISRAEL," BY MANASSEH BEN-ISRAEL The Hope of Israel : | Written By Menasseh Ben Israel, | an Hebrew Divine, and Philosopher. Newly extant, and Printed in | Amsterdam, and Dedicated by the Author to the High Court, the | Parliament of England, and to the Councell of State. Translated into English, and | published by Authority. In this Treatise is shewed the place where the ten | Tribes at this present are, proved, partly by | the strange relation of one Antony Monte-zinus, a Jew, of what befell him as he tra-velled over the Mountaines Cordillære, with | divers other particulars about the restoration of the Jewes, and the time when. Printed at London by R. I. for Hannah Allen, at the Crown in Popes-head | Alley, 1650.| (sm. 8°. 7 l. + 90 pp.) [1. S.] sig. A3. "To the Parliament, the Supream Court of England, and to the right Honourable the Councell of State, Menasseh Ben Israell, prayes God to give health, and all Happinesse." But the original edition in Spanish is dedicated "A los Muy Nobles, Prudentes, y Magnificos Señores, Deputados y Parnassim deste K.K. de Talmud Tora." . . . Amsterdā. a 13 de Sebat. An. 5410. In this first English version the name of the translator does not appear on the title page, nor does "The Translator to the Reader " bear any signature; but "Moses Wall" does appear on the title pages of two issues of a second edition which appeared in 1651 and 1652. (4to. 5 ll. +62 pp.) [B. M.] 'This translation was probably the work of the author. Bound up with this copy is a folded engraving of the author by Salom Italia. It was published again under the following title :"Accounts Of The Ten Tribes of Israel Being In America ; Originally Published By R. Manasseh Ben Israel. With Observations Thereon, And Extracts From Sacred And Profane, Ancient And Modern History, Confirming The Same ; And Their Return From Thence About The Time Of The Return Of The Jews. By Robert Ingram, A.M. Vicar of Wormingford and Boxted, Essex. Colchester Printed And Sold By W. Keymer; Sold Also By G. G. J. And J. Robinson, Pater-Noster-Row, London, 1792. [Price One Shilling.] (8°. 56 pp.) [I. S.] There are several Hebrew versions, the first translation appearing in 1698. ... החכם השלם :.. מנשה בן ישראל זצ"ל בלשון מקוה ישראל חברו נוי הולנדי"אה : 1 ועתה נעתק ללשון הקודש ע"י ... ר" אליקים בהר"ר יעקב ש"ץ זצ"ל חזן בק"ק אמשטרדם :... נדפס באמשטרדם ... בשנת בדפוס קאשמן עמריך. [תנח] לפיק (16mo. D (66) U.)1 De Hoop Van Israël. [I. S.] Een Werck met groote naukeurigheyt | beschreven: | Waer in hy handelt van de wonderlijcke | verstroyinge der 10 Stammen, en hare ge-wisse herstellinge met de twee Stammen Juda en Benjamin in't Vaderlandt. Met veele aen-wijsingen, naukeurige vertellingen, en verkla-|ringen van verscheyde Prophetien. | Met meer als 90 Beschrijvers bevestight: | Met een verantwoordingh voor de | Eedele Volcken der Jooden.] Den 2. Druck2 van veel Letter-mis stellingen gesuyvert. t'Amsterdam, | Voor Jozua Rex, Boeck-binder, op de Cingel, recht over de Appelen-marrickt, | in't Jaer 1666.| (12mo. 6 ll. +124 pp. [De Hoop Van Israel.])3 [1. s.] 1 It was composed in Spanish in 1650 and did not appear in Dutch until 1666. A third edition was published in the same year, with the following addition : De Reysen van R. Benjamin Jonasz Tudelens, In de drie Deelen der Werelt, als Europa, Asia, en Afrika : ... In't Nederduyt overgeschreven door Jan Bara.... 117 pp. [B. M.] 3 Bound up with this copy is a folded engraving of the Author by Salom Italia. It has also been translated into Yiddish. |